Eating Disorder Early Recovery : How Do I Begin? The 84,000 Ways

by Joanna Poppink, L.M.F.T.

Eating disorders are reaching epidemic proportions in the United States and other countries. The disorders affect people of both genders, all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Eating disorders reach into any education level, professional achievement position and social status. They jeopardize careers, education, families and the medical complications can be life threatening.

How a person begins to get help in recovering from an eating disorder depends on:

1. the form of eating disorder;
2. how entrenched it is;
3. kinds of social supports available;
4. degree of financial resources available;
5. how accessible the person is to deep psychological learning;
6. level of commitment to recovery;
7. how willing and genuinely informed the person's intimates are;
8. quality of therapy available;
9. quality of programs available;
10. what touches an individual's heart.

The guiding principle necessary for recovery is, "Get well no matter what." That's the commitment and focus it takes to recover from an eating disorder. Usually a lot of exploring occurs in the process of finding the methods and people who are best for you. Your best choices will not be based on control issues but on healing issues.

Sometimes you are lucky and quickly find a psychotherapist who can go the distance with you. Such a person has knowledge of eating disorders and unconscious processes. He or she is more than willing for their patients to participate in various ethical, responsible and respectable groups where the patient explores body, mind, spiritual and creative issues and opportunities while maintaining ongoing psychotherapy.

If you are lucky, your family goes into therapy and works out many of their troublesome individual and group boundary issues as well. Eating disorder residential or out patient programs often offer family sessions. Sometimes these are conducted with the eating disorder person present. Sometimes not. Sometimes they are conducted with other eating disorder families. Sometimes not. Or a combination of all may be offered in a structured setting.

If you are working with a private practice out patient psychotherapist, then that person can refer willing family members to another psychotherapist for support and processing. Most mental health clinicians are in contact with colleagues who can provide treatment for the friends and family members of clients. This way each person is free to have their own experience with their own psychotherapist and not be concerned about issues of privacy or confidentiality.

Your challenge is to discover what is best for you. In Buddhism they say there are 84,000 doors to enlightenment. I like this philosophy. There are many and varied ways of achieving recovery. Even the search for your best way is part of the healing process as long as you are not playing tricks with your mind and remain sincerely open to healing.

The best way for you may not be the most comfortable way. Healing from an eating disorder is not comfortable. It's eye opening, mind opening, soul opening and body healing with joyous times, but it's definitely not comfortable.

In healing, you begin where you are. You check out the reputation and credentials of people you associate with because people with eating disorders have difficulties with trust. You can trust too quickly when it's not a good idea, and you can withhold your trust when you are in a good place and lose a potentially helpful relationship. So credentials and recommendations are important as you explore what is available for you.

Some Ways to Begin Early Recovery

Contact

1. eating disorder specialists
2. hospitals
3. school counseling programs
4. 12 step organizations
5. recommendations
6. churches, temples and synagogues
7. eating disorder web sites
8. eating disorder professional organizations (see list at end of article)

Ask for people you can talk with who have experience in either treating eating disorders, achieving recovery from eating disorders or have received good feedback from referring people to helpful situations.

Learn about the different ways people have found real help and choose what seems like a tolerable beginning place for you.

Guides come in all kinds of forms. You might discover a simple, direct path when someone or several people highly recommend a particular psychotherapist. But information might take a different shape entirely. Someone might recommend a creative writing group that has a lot of people in recovery as participants. By visiting or joining that group you might get a creative boost in your life plus meet people who can give you solid recommendations for treatment.

Local hospitals may have programs (residential or out-patient) or know where programs exist. School counselors, priests, pastors, rabbis and monks may know what local resources have helped students and parishioners (and which have not).

Twelve step programs are always a grab bag of unpredictable surprises, but they are also consistent in that people who actively participate in their personal recovery show up and tell "how it was and how it is." Hearing these stories and meeting the people can be enormously helpful, even if it's just one meeting and just one story that opens your mind to a path for you.

Residential treatment centers often have a list of recommended psychotherapists in the local area. Such centers may offer you visits to their site and/or may invite you to talks, seminars, meetings with their staff and perhaps people who have "graduated" from their programs.

Eating disorder web sites often have a list of people you can contact for information. Many eating disorder psychotherapists, dieticians and medical doctors are part of a world-wide information-sharing network. It may be possible for this network to find you referrals to resources in your area that are worth exploring.

There are 84,000 ways to begin. If you trust and commit to your own desire to get well, you will recognize the door that is right for you.

About the Author

Joanna Poppink, L.M.F.T is a Los Angeles psychotherapist in private practice who specializes in working with people recovering from eating disorders and their loved ones. She has been in practice since 1980 and is the author of “Triumphant Journey Workbook: a guide to stop overeating and recover from eating disorders.” She gives presentations on treatment, prevention and family dynamics as they relate to eating disorders to health professionals and community gatherings. www.poppink.com